The Radiant Black universe is taking shape, and now’s the time to get in
In 2015, Kyle Higgins helped BOOM! Studios launch a Power Rangers line of comics to great success. Three years later, following the sprawling Shattered Grid event, his time with the Rangers came to an end, but he still had some ideas on super sentai and superhero comics — and ones beyond other creators’ worlds. Rather than play in existing sandboxes, he wanted to build his own.
Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson eventually swooped in, texting Higgins to ask if he would do an all-new creator-owned superhero book for the publisher. Stephenson believed there was a market for it, while Higgins was skeptical. Enter: Radiant Black
Alongside editor/designer Michael Busuttil, artist Marcelo Costa, and letterer Becca Carey, a whole new superhero was born. Higgins and his team drew from their love for relatable everyman heroes like Spider-Man, while trying to update it for the 2020s, and a generation disillusioned by lies of a hollow future. Aesthetically, it would draw upon their collective love of Tokusatsu-heroes like Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai, building on the Power Rangers and Ultraman comics work Higgins had already done for BOOM! and Marvel. It would go onto become a smash-hit commercial success.
Having made its debut in early 2021, this February sees the title completing a full year of publishing. But the creatives behind this are just getting started. The second year of Radiant Black looks even bigger and better than the last, and more importantly, Higgins and Image have plans to expand beyond the keystone title.
There’s a whole new superhero universe in town, and this is just the beginning. Here’s what you need to know before diving in, complete with insight from the “Massive-verse” creators and a
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